Dhawan's dream debut - A look at the numbers

First day's play rained out, the opponents batting the next day and getting an opportunity to bat only on the third day - This is a scenario that a debutant would ideally not want to be in. But not Shikhar Dhawan, who came out like it was another session in the nets as he blasted a fabulous century en route to breaking several records.

Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc - who came up with fine scores in the nineties to power Australia to a total in excess of 400 in the third Test in Mohali - would have given the Australian team something to cheer about in what has been a dismal tour for them. However, the joy only turned out to be momentary for the visitors as Dhawan's dream debut took away any advantage that they would have hoped for.

Having made his ODI debut three years back, Dhawan had to wait for long period of time and had to produce consistent performances in the domestic level for the selectors to see him as a Test potential. Having done that, getting selected in the Test squad for the first time and getting a maiden call-up, the left-handed opener took like a duck to water on the big stage by coming up with a splendid ton on debut, which was also the fastest by any batsman playing his first Test match.

Fastest Test tons on debut:

Player

For

Against

Balls faced

Venue

Match Date

Shikhar Dhawan

India

Australia

85

Mohali

Mar 14, 2013

Dwayne Smith

West Indies

South Africa

93

Cape Town

Jan 2, 2013

Matt Prior

England

West Indies

105

Lord's

May 17, 2007

Abul Hasan

Bangladesh

West Indies

106

Khulna

Nov 21, 2012

Swashbuckling opener is a term that is normally associated with Virender Sehwag in Indian cricket, but Dhawan - who replaced the aggressive opener for the third Test - showed that he too belonged to the same category and he did even better by becoming the only Indian opener to reach the three figure mark in his debut game.

Highest by an Indian opener on debut:

Player

Runs

Balls faced

4s

6s

Innings

Opposition

Ground

Match Date

Shikhar Dhawan

187

174

33

2

2

Australia

Mohali

14 Mar 2013

KC Ibrahim

85

-

9

1

2

West Indies

Delhi

10 Nov 1948

Sudhir Naik

77

165

9

0

3

England

Birmingham

4 Jul 1974

Devang Gandhi

75

242

6

0

3

New Zealand

Mohali

10 Oct 1999

Sunil Gavaskar

67*

-

7

0

4

West Indies

Port of Spain

6 Mar 1971

Sunil Gavaskar

65

-

-

0

2

West Indies

Port of Spain

6 Mar 1971

When the lunch break was taken, Dhawan was not-out on 0 and he went on to score 106 runs during the session between lunch and tea. This score happens to be the fourth highest by an Indian during this interval. Polly Umrigar, who scored 110 in the second session against West Indies, tops the Indian list while Dennis Compton, who scored 173 runs between lunch and tea against Pakistan, holds the world record.

Highest by an Indian in the second session:

Player

Runs

Match

Venue

Year

Polly Umrigar (172*)

110

Ind v WI

Port of Spain

1961-62

Virender Sehwag (254)

109

Ind v Pak

Lahore

2005-06

Virender Sehwag (319)

108

Ind v SA

Chennai

2007-08

Shikhar Dhawan (187)

106

Ind v Aus

Mohali

2013

Mohammad Azharuddin (179)

103

Ind v.Eng

Manchester

1990

Shikhar Dhawan fell after a majestic 187 in the first session on Day 4. During the course of his knock, the left-hander registered the highest individual score by an Indian debutant. He also became the 13th Indian player to register a ton on debut. Dhawan also prominently featured on the list of the fastest tons by Indians although he did not surpass the record held by Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin - 74 balls each.

Most runs scored on debut:

Player

Runs

Balls Faced

4s

6s

Inns

Opposition

Venue

Match Date

Shikhar Dhawan

187

174

33

2

2

Australia

Mohali

14 Mar 2013

Gundappa Viswanath

137

-

25

0

3

Australia

Kanpur

15 Nov 1969

Sourav Ganguly

131

301

20

0

2

England

Lord's

20 Jun 1996

Surinder Amarnath

124

-

16

1

2

New Zealand

Auckland

24 Jan 1976

Suresh Raina

120

228

12

2

2

Sri Lanka

Colombo (SSC)

26 Jul 2010

Dhawan also registered the second highest individual score in a debut innings against Australia. He also became the highest Indian run-getter in an innings on debut against the same team, surpassing Gundappa Vishwanath's 137 at Kanpur in 1967.

Most runs scored on debut against Australia:

Player

For

Runs

Innings

Venue

Match Date

Tip Foster

England

287

2

Sydney

11 Dec 1903

Shikhar Dhawan

India

187

2

Mohali

14 Mar 2013

Khalid Ibadulla

Pakistan

166

1

Karachi

24 Oct 1964

KS Ranjitsinhji

England

154*

3

Manchester

16 Jul 1896

WG Grace

England

152

1

The Oval

6 Sep 1880

GR Viswanath

India

137

3

Kanpur

15 Nov 1969

Romesh Kaluwitharana

Sri Lanka

132*

2

Colombo (SSC)

17 Aug 1992

Despite not being able to achieve the double ton, Dhawan registered the sixth highest score by a debutant in Test cricket.